Cipher Studios proudly presents: an Anima Tactics battle report! My name is David Freeman, and I’ll be your narrator today. Recently I decided we should get a good ol fashioned battle report out there so that people can get a better look at the game if they have never seen it before, or to mock Joel’s and my generalship if they are already hardened veterans.

Joel’s pre-game commentary (ill conceived trash talk): Dave and I have been playing miniatures games together for years, but the Gods of the Dice have more often than not looked unfavorably upon mine.  Knowing this, Dave showed some geat sportsmanship by agreeing to let me play the Church, and thus play a more unfamiliar Party. He had for some time been planning on crushing someone with his own Church force. Little did Dave know that in casting thousands upon thousands of metal warriors below his work station, I have actually been making sacrifices to the Dice Gods. HA!!

I first chose Romeo as the Leader and core of my Party. He is a power house with a lot of options. I like options. With Romeo, I put Alius and Elhaym on standby. These three were at the center of my plan. Get as close to the heart of Dave’s force as I could and bring the winged light to bear on his darkened soul at just the right time… whenever that would be. Evangeline was taken for her healing and buffing abilities. Nero got in for muscle against the Dark. Damien and Alis’ have impressive maneuverability while still being tough warriors earned them places in the ranks. But I’m sorry to say Jaing Pao, you were just fast filler.

Dave’s pre-game commentary (infallible plan): Joel is one of my longest running adversaries game wise. We have met many, many times across the field of miniature battle over the years. I’d like to say that my win percentage over that time against him has been due to my cunning and intelligence, but I must admit that Joel’s luck has seemed to be appallingly bad right when he needs it the most.

I am not really overly familiar with Samael, I like their models quite a bit, but I haven’t gotten in many games commanding the coalition of supernatural creatures (predators). My party consists of a group of combat characters, namely Dark Chesire, Kairos, and Konosuke, backed up by Bael casting debuffs. As the haughty and arrogant leader he is, Ophiel is supposed to play a clean-up role by coming in the second wave with Bael, guarding her and looking to move up and support the frontline fighters where necessary either by summoning Ahriman and casting Dark Beams or Devouring Darkness for some disruption, or charging in to finish off any stubborn resistance himself. I chose the Innate Mystics organization advantage as this allowed me to actually take all of these characters within the level limit. I was worried about Joel taking the Exterminators Church advantage, as I couldn’t really figure out a good way to avoid it having a big impact on Samael with the range of figures that I was looking at playing. I decided I was going to play the figures I thought where good and if Exterminators advantage ended up destroying me then it would be a learning experience.

Respective Parties

Joel’s Party:

Romeo – 75 lvls +5 lvls for Raphael’s Gift

Evangeline – 50 lvls + 5 lvls for Potion

Nero – 50 lvls

Alis – 40 lvls + 5 for Clock of Cronos

Damien – 45 lvls

Jaing Pao – 40 lvls +15 for Protective Shield

Total of 330 lvls

Dave’s Party:

Ophiel – 70 levels +5 lvls for Lord of the Shadows

Ahriman – 40 levels

Bael – 45 levels +5 lvls for Control Bound

Dark Chesire – 50 levels +15 lvls for Protective Shield

Konosuke – 55 levels +15 lvls for Greater Life Potion

Kairos – 45 levels

Innate Mystics discount: -15 levels

Total of 330 levels

Deployment

We rolled for scenario and found that we would be playing Exploration, and then characters where deployed in this order …

1. Alis Testarossa (AT)
2. Dark Chesire (DC)
3. Saint Evangeline (SE)
4. Kairos (K1)
5. Damien (D)
6. Bael (B)
7. Jiang Pao (JP)
8. Konosuke (K2)
9. Nero (N)
10. Ophiel (O)
11. Romeo (R)

Turn 1

Joel wins the initiative and decides to have me activate a character first. I start the game off by having Konosuke run forward to try and get to grips with the foe sooner. Alis jumps down from the Church patio and runs across to the other side of the stream. Dark Chesire runs forward taking up a position in the rubble across from the ruined building. Nero runs forward getting behind the ruined building. Ophiel moves forward to support Dark Chesire and summons Ahriman out in front of him near the ruined building. Romeo runs forward taking up a position to the left of Nero behind the ruined building. Romeo then prays gaining a miracle token and losing 2 LP. Kairos runs forward attempting to flank the developing Church line by going to the right of the forest in the middle of the board. Evangeline walks forward past the ruined wall near the Church deployment zone and casts Holy Armor on Nero, giving him Shield level 2. Bael runs forward to slightly behind Dark Chesire to the right and casts Dark Beam targeting Romeo. Romeo has Solid cover versus the attack and is at long range. Bael uses a Gnosis point on the attack and hits Romeo who takes 3 damage. Damien uses Bodiless to move up through the ruined wall and hide in the ruined building. Ahriman attempts to use Catastrophic Darkness on Nero using Gnosis. Nero Dodges using Gnosis. Ahriman misses. Jiang Pao runs forward to the left of the ruined building so that Kairos can’t run around unchecked.

In the first turn both Joel and I jockeyed for position. We where both looking to set up the most advantageous fights we could while keeping an eye on getting to our opponent’s deployment zone with the majority of our party intact.

Turn 2

Joel has Alis use Wings of Light to gain flight until the end of the turn, losing 3 Life Points. I win the initiative and opt to have Joel start activating things first. Joel has Nero charge Ahriman. Ahriman dodges using gnosis. Nero hits causing 9 damage to Ahriman, ouch! Dark Chesire charges in to help Ahriman versus Nero and misses. Jiang Pao walks into contact with Kairos and uses Gale of Blows targeting him, rolling a 10. Kairos takes 8 damage and fails his resistance roll losing an action point. Konosuke runs through part of the forest over to back up Kairos. Saint Evangeline free moves forward and casts Blessing. Ophiel walks forward a little ways and casts dark beam into combat targeting Nero. Ophiel hits Nero causing 5 damage. Nero fails his resistance roll and is blinded by the dark beam. Damien uses lifeless to charge Bael through the wall he was behind, hitting Bael and killing her! Ahriman attacks Nero causing 5 damage. Nero resists Seal using gnosis on the roll. Romeo walks forward praying again. Kairos does nothing since he only has one AP left. Alis uses Beyond the Wind to fly off the board.

Turn 2 didn’t go very well for the intrepid creatures of Samael. Having Bael get one-shotted before she was able to throw around any of her hex magic was pretty brutal for my morale.

Nero confronts half the Samael party

Damien brings the pain to Bael

Turn 3

At the beginning of the turn Ahriman passes his stability check allowing him to stay in the game even though he is out of Bind Points and Alis uses Wings of Light, losing 3 Life Points, to gain Flight until the end of the turn. Joel wins the initiative and opens the turn by having Evangeline free move forward and heals Nero by 5 Life Points.  Dark Chesire uses Summon targeting Nero doing 8 damage to finish him off, and then free moves toward Evangeline. Romeo runs back so as to put himself in between Evangeline and the two Samael monsters menacing her, praying as he goes. Kairos repositions to the other side of Jiang Pao and then makes a normal attack. Jiang Pao reveals Protective Shield making his free Dodge. Kairos misses, and the Protective Shield is discarded. Jiang Pao uses Gale of blows on Kairos, and misses due to Kairos dodging. Konosuke charges Jiang Pao missing even though he used Gnosis and Jiang Pao couldn’t dodge! Alis dives back into play using Beyond the Winds to charge Kairos, unfortunately missing. She then uses the Clock of Cronos discarding it to recover an Action Point so that she can use Aegis’ Wind to fly away from the combat. Ahriman declares a charge on Evangeline, but Romeo intercepts taking 2 damage. Damien charges Ophiel doing 5 damage. Ophiel attacks Damien back, but whiffs big missing with a 2 on his roll.

Turn 3 seems to be a continuation of turn 2 with not a whole lot of relief from the pain for my beset Samael party. I can’t seem to catch a break to help me even it out a little.

Alis descends to lend Jiang Pao a hand

Turn 4

At the beginning of the turn Ahriman, who is just barely within Ophiel’s Control Zone, manages to pass his stability check again staying in play to fight for another turn! During the recovery phase Joel removes the 4 miracle tokens he has built up from Praying to summon an Alius and Elhaym to the board using Celestial Call, placing them between Dark Chesire and Romeo’s combat with Ahriman. Joel wins the initiative with a 10! Alius leads off the turn by Sacred Charging Dark Chesire. Chesire reveals Protective Shield for a free dodge. We both use gnosis on our respective rolls. Dark Chesire rolls a 3 to dodge, with gnosis even! Due to his terrible dodge roll, Chesire takes 15 killing him. Ahriman attacks Romeo who dodges. Ahriman misses. Elhaym charges Ophiel, missing due to his dodge. She then uses Light Flash blinding Ophiel. Kairos attacks Jiang Pao using Gnosis on his attack. Jiang dodges but it isn’t enough to avoid getting hit. Jiang takes 6 and Kairos repositions around him again slightly. Jiang Pao attacks Kairos back, but misses due to his dodge. Konosuke attacks Jiang Pao finally smacking him down, and then free moves towards the Church’s side of the board. Alis runs back towards the Church’s side of the board playing zone defense. Since Joel has two unactivated characters left to my one I pass to see what he will do. Joel has Romeo use Deus Magna on Ahriman dealing enough damage to banish him from Gaia. Ophiel takes 5 damage from shock when Ahriman is destroyed. Ophiel attacks Damien who decides to dodge with gnosis. Despite Damien scoring a 2 on his dodge roll even with gnosis, Ophiel rolls a 1 to hit. Damien then repositions around Ophiel.

Romeo decides it is time

Alius Smites Dark Chesire

Turn 5

Joel wins the initiative again this turn. Evangeline walks towards Damien and casts Holy Armor on him. Kairos runs forward trying to get closer to scoring range for the scenario. Romeo walks crossing over to help support Alis, again praying as he goes. Ophiel uses End of Eternity on Damien who dodges. We both use gnosis. Thanks to Holy Armor and Blessing Damien only takes 7 damage. Damien uses Breathless on Ophiel, who dodges. We both use gnosis. Damien misses due to the dodging. Konosuke also runs forward, barreling towards the Church’s deployment zone.

I am trying to drive home my offensive. Will it be enough?

Turn 6

I win the initiative?! Konosuke charges Romeo dealing 6. He then uses 1000 Broken Bones, missing. Evangeline Heals Damien 5 Life Points putting him at 12. Kairos runs forward getting into the Church’s deployment zone. Damien and Ophiel trade blows with some gnosis thrown in for good measure. Both miss due to dodges. Alis runs forward attempting to close the gap to the Samael Deployment Zone.

Things have calmed down somewhat with both of us trying to get figures into each others Deployment Zone. At this point in the game I was pretty sure that I could win if I could get enough stuff into Joel’s DZ.

Konosuke charges the Supreme Inquisitor

Turn 7

Romeo uses The Blessed Sword during the Recovery Phase giving his attacks +1 Attack, +1 Damage, and -2 Armor until the end of the turn. I win the initiative again! Kairos runs off the board. Evangeline casts Holy Armor on Damien again. Ophiel attacks Damien missing due to his dodge. Romeo Deus Magna’s Konosuke, doing 23 damage. OUCH! Exterminator of Gods indeed. Konosuke attempts to escape from combat with Romeo having to try again using gnosis the second time to get away, once clear of Romeo he walks into the church’s deployment zone, staggering from the beating he just received from Romeo. Damein attacks Ophiel, missing due to a dodge. Alis runs forward again falling less than a quarter of an inch short of making it into the Samael Deployment zone.

Konosuke stumbles away from Romeo

Finito

Thusly the game ended once the seventh turn was over. Here is the accounting of victory…

I Scored

45 for getting Kairos into the Church Deployment Zone.

55 for getting Konosuke into the Church Deployment Zone.

50 For taking out Nero.

40 for taking out Jiang Pao.

Total: 190

Joel Scored

50 for destroying Dark Chesire.

45 for destroying Bael.

40 for destroying Ahriman.

25 for taking Kairos below half Life Points.

45 for taking Ophiel below half Life Points.

30 for taking Konosuke below half Life Points.

Total: 235

Joel wins a Partial Victory!

Joel’s post game commentary (or in your face, trash talk): All of the sacrificing of little metal men has paid off! The Dice Gods smiled upon me at last. While the high flying maneuverability of Alis and Romeo’s ability to summon warrior angels worked just as I had thought, the Gods of Dice gave me superhuman rolling superiority that even Gnosis could not overcome! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

Dave’s post game commentary (the gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair): I thought my plan was decent, and even with Exterminators adding quite a bit of damage over the whole of the game it was still very close. I got a little over eager and brought Ahriman on to early so he was unable to really use his action points to their fullest by attacking people. Leaving Bael in a position to be charged by Damien was also a pretty harsh mistake. This game was a huge learning experience for me and as always it was a fun time playing Joel.

Please feel free to let us know what you think, you can find our contact emails on the about page of this site.